NFL Division 3 Thread

[imtommygunn]

The balance has kind of shifted. From the outside looking in there are a few teams in division 3 who have been in freefall since just after the leagues went to 4 straight divisions. They've not had time to drop all divisions yet and so division 3 is where they're currently at.

Sligo seemed to dip a bit a few years ago but are better than they showed so division 4 was kind of a false reflection of where they were at and antrim would be playing a lot better under baker.

Basically it seems to be a league for teams who have gone from being half decent to shite and teams who are kind of half on the up at the minute so the teams on the up maybe look better than they are!

I'm naming no names...

[SLIGONIAN]

Hardstation, if Down and Tipp can get promotion from div3 then was it any different last yr. Offaly, Cavan, Louth, Roscommon, poor showing in last yrs championship and wouldnt put the fear into anyone. Until today i had next 2 home games as bankers but not now.

Div3 is poor. I honestly dont rate alot of teams in it. If we put a bit effort into we'd have got promotion but we wont now.

Our only saving grace is we should improve dramatically in the summer like last yr. Only london or KK would of lost to us today, any other div4 team would of beaten us.

[ross4life]

Our run in:

Roscommon (away) - Haven't won a match but unlucky not to beat Fermanagh and hit 2-13 against Offaly. I'll show my cards and say that we should get a win but we'll need to play well. No mugs.

Offaly (away) - This is going to be tough. We could beat them. They could beat us. It might be a draw. No idea how this will go. A massive game. I think I'm heading down so hopefully the hardstation roar will spur them on.

Louth (home) - Another big game, depending on how the other two matches go. It'll be tough but I'd hope to beat them at Casement.

Wexford (away) - I would hope that we're not depending on a win here to get us up. Another hard game.


We have tight matches coming up. I'd hope that 2 wins out of 4 will be enough. I'd also hope that we can get 2 wins out of 4.



I'd hope.

IMO u'll beat Roscommon, Offaly & Louth but lose to wexford when Promotion will be already sealed!

[AZOffaly]

Very important win for Offaly on Sunday, although by all accounts it was skin of the teeth stuff at the end. 4 points from 6 with a defeat in Wexford Park is about as good as could be expected at this stage, so I'd be hopeful another win or two would keep us up, given the travails so far of Fermanagh and Roscommon especially.

On the other hand, another couple of wins at home and you could be edging towards the promotion end of things, especially if we can get over Antrim in Tullamore.

[heineken_on_tap]

It was a high scoring game in Tullamore but the overall standard was poor enough. Some of the basic handling and passing skills on show was terrible.Even though we could of snatched a draw at the end, that was more to do with poor Offaly defending that anything else. We only lost by a point in the end that should not mask the poor performance by our lads.

I didn't see any real positives from a Ros point of view other than Shine's freetaking that is, in general play he didn't offer much and seems very slow to decide what to do when in possession of the ball.  Our defense was poor enough too, any high balls caused a bit of panic. Cregg, who I have great time for, is not a centre back, surely we have a more suited player in the couty for this position? Our midfielders dont inspire confidence either and we still haven't player who can anticipate and win breaking ball around the middle.  All and all I left Tullamore very dissapointed yesterday and can't see much hope for the year ahead.

[Rossfan]

Neither do I regretfully.
At least 7 of our players yesterday are not Inter Co footballers.
That added to nonsensical defending, headless chicken stuff for 25 minutes in the second half, awful attempts at passing, indecision at all times when on the ball, and at frees and always looking to go sideways instead of firing the ball forward.
More years of misery and hard knocks to look forward to I'm afraid before we even begin to think of challenging anyone for anything at a serious or even middlin level.

[mattockranger]

Rossfan...

i think majority of teams from this division could copy and paste your last comment and apply to their own team

with the exception of Antrim

[imtommygunn]

I wouldn't get too carried away about antrim just yet mattock. There are a couple of boys on that team who won't be there come championship. St Galls still being in the club though is a good thing as everyone has to be on their toes toretain their places.

I would say quite a number of teams are in "transition". I wouldn't put Sligo or Wexford in that bracket. Offaly I'm not sure about. Ros, Fermanagh and Cavan definitely are and I don't know much about Louth football so can't possibly comment on them. A lot of tehse teams seem to have players in one age bracket who pretty much need replaced in one foul swoop.

Antrim are playing with confidence but they would be very weak defensively just yet. Pretty much half the defense are missing. It's just that any teams they've played haven't had the ability to expose that. Whether any of the remaining teams do remains to be seen. They also would have maybe 4 decent forwards but not 6 so still a good bit to build on.

The way I would see it is that Offaly and Wexford are teams who could put us back in our box. Comments on Louth football seem to suggest they are poor enough. (Louth comments). Niall McNamee from Offaly could kill us ion a good day but hopefully we've galls boys back by then.

[Rossfan]

Rossfan...

i think majority of teams from this division could copy and paste your last comment and apply to their own team

with the exception of Antrim

At least the rest of ye managed to win a game anyways.

[mattockranger]

I wouldn't get too carried away about antrim just yet mattock. There are a couple of boys on that team who won't be there come championship. St Galls still being in the club though is a good thing as everyone has to be on their toes toretain their places.

I would say quite a number of teams are in "transition". I wouldn't put Sligo or Wexford in that bracket. Offaly I'm not sure about. Ros, Fermanagh and Cavan definitely are and I don't know much about Louth football so can't possibly comment on them. A lot of tehse teams seem to have players in one age bracket who pretty much need replaced in one foul swoop.

Antrim are playing with confidence but they would be very weak defensively just yet. Pretty much half the defense are missing. It's just that any teams they've played haven't had the ability to expose that. Whether any of the remaining teams do remains to be seen. They also would have maybe 4 decent forwards but not 6 so still a good bit to build on.

The way I would see it is that Offaly and Wexford are teams who could put us back in our box. Comments on Louth football seem to suggest they are poor enough. (Louth comments). Niall McNamee from Offaly could kill us ion a good day but hopefully we've galls boys back by then.

yous handled a Sligo Forward line that I would rate highly in this division....i think everyone one of their forwards scored against us!


A sidenote:
John Coughlan the dublin underage star made his Offaly debut....supposed to have been impressive great addition to Offaly
Any reports?/

Don't worry Rossfan you still have to play us!!

[Bord na Mona man]

A sidenote:
John Coughlan the dublin underage star made his Offaly debut....supposed to have been impressive great addition to Offaly
Any reports?/

A good debut. He started well, fielded balls under pressure, including a couple of marks and looked useful around the field.

In the second half, Offaly fell very deep when playing into the wind. The match turned really scrappy and error-ridden and Coughlan wasn't as prominent.

Midfield is a traditional problem area for Offaly. The only decent fielder, Niall Smith is off the panel, as is Alan McNamee who was middling 4 or 5 years ago. Ciaran McManus is no longer a viable midfield option.

Coughlan and U21 midfielder Brian Connor look like potentially improving things here.

[mattockranger]

A good debut. He started well, fielded balls under pressure, including a couple of marks and looked useful around the field.

In the second half, Offaly fell very deep when playing into the wind. The match turned really scrappy and error-ridden and Coughlan wasn't as prominent.

Midfield is a traditional problem area for Offaly. The only decent fielder, Niall Smith is off the panel, as is Alan McNamee who was middling 4 or 5 years ago. Ciaran McManus is no longer a viable midfield option.

Coughlan and U21 midfielder Brian Connor look like potentially improving things here.

[/quote]

I would have thought alan Mcnamee was a consistent midfielder on his day....
Coughlan is a great influx of talent anyway...has his brother joined the panel aswell? how is he faring??

We have Fermanagh next and from all reports they aren't going too well along with players missing either through injury, suspension or unavailability....We could nabb another win ...and suprisingly one away from home....and put us into contention for promotion!!

In the words of Christy Dignam....this is a crazy world!!!

[saffron sam2]

Roscommon worth a few quid this weekend?

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Roscommon worth a few quid this weekend?

What price SS2??

[drici]

What Now?

It is hard to see Roscommon avoiding the drop to Division Four after this defeat.

The last four games must be won if there is to be any hope of surviving in Division Three.

Next Sunday table toppers Antrim come to Hyde Park and it will take a mighty effort from the Rossies to take the points in this one. Antrim have a very fast team and their forwards put moves together at lightning speed.

That does not bode well for the Roscommon backs who aren't exactly gifted with speed. I have a feeling that Roscommon could produce a winning display on Sunday and cause an upset.

The last two games have been lost by a single point, so the luck might change on Sunday with Roscommon on the right side of the final score.